Intellect Orbs : Artifact

Description

Intellect Orbs are large, crystalline spheres, mounted on the end of a short staff. The staff is about one and a half feet long, and is comprised of strange metals and synth. The orb is a large sphere, about a foot in diameter, and appears to be made from a clear, quartz-like crystal. Inside the crystal are layer upon layer of highly detailed, painstakingly small facets. The outside of the crystal is perfectly smooth with no facets, however. It’s like the crystal was intentionally grown this way.

The staff ends is four, claw-like plates that extend, straight out, from the base of the staff. It appears that these metal “feet” are intended to lock the orb in place, and many have constructed tables that hold these unique items. It’s not uncommon to see them built so that the staff is not visible, and it appears as a simple crystal ball setting on a table.

The orb itself is held in place by a strange, four fingered claw of layered, geometric design. Three of the fingers hold one side, while a fourth “thumb” holds the opposite side of the orb. The strange claw doesn’t seem to match up to anything known or seen in the world. These strange claws travel about a quarter of the way up the orb. They hold the orb firmly in place, only allowing it to spin upon activation.

When activated, the entire crystal emits a strange, but pleasant, soft hum. The crystal will glow with faintly varying colors, and then flash blurry images thru-out it’s structure. These images are undecipherable, but appear to grow from the center, filling the entire orb. Then, they fade out as they wrap outwards around the crystal. Once activated, the crystal will also slowly spin within it’s setting.

Details

Level:

1d6+1

Form:

The Intellect Orb is a large crystal ball, set atop a staff comprised of strange metals and synth. It is held in place by a strange, alien-looking claw with only four fingers.

Depletion:

1 in 1d20 (5%)

Effect:

The Intellect Orbs can be activated with a standard action, but the user must be focused on an individual that is within immediate distance from the orb. When activated, this item allows the user to commune with a powerful information network. This network will grant the user information about a given target. These images will appear as blurry and indecipherable to any but the user. The orb will continue to project images of the targets past, and possible future for up to 1 minute before shutting down.

Many people believe these are fortune-telling devices, or even connected to the datasphere. However, there is actually a much more sinister intelligence behind these items. The machine intelligence, Deus Ex, deployed these devices into the world countless eons ago. He still maintains control and contact with the working ones. The images it produces are carried on his satellite network, and he controls every aspect of them.

Because of their origin, the images are often vague. Deus uses information gathered from satellites and the orbs themselves. This means that he can give extremely accurate images of most peoples past and current life. The satellites that Deus employs are massively advanced, and can even see details miles below the surface of the planet.

However, Deus can only calculate the most probable future events. This has proven to provide hit and miss predictions for any future images. Deus has accurately predicted many events through these items, but has seen more than one prediction end up way off of actual events. Because of this, Deus tends to be vague and mysterious with the information he delivers.

Finally, Deus controls the images sent through the globes. He uses these to both gather information and manipulate people. He can send images through that will hopefully guide the characters to wherever, or whatever, Deus wants.